Recently, Bearden el al. developed a device which is known as a motionless
electromagnetic generator (MEG) and which produces a coefficient of perform
ance (COP) far in excess of unity. The device has been independently replic
ated by Naudin. In this communication the fundamental operational principle
of the MEG is explained using a version of higher symmetry electrodynamics
known as O(3) electrodynamics, which is based on the empirical existence o
f two circular polarization states of electromagnetic radiation, and which
has been developed extensively in the literature. The theoretical explanati
on of the MEG with O(3) electrodynamics is straightforward: Magnetic energy
is taken directly ex vacua and used to replenish the permanent magnets of
the MEG device, which therefore produces a source of energy that, in theory
, can be replenished indefinitely from the vacuum. Such a result is incompr
ehensible in U(1) Maxwell-Heaviside electrodynamics.